Both John Tucker must Die and The taming of the shrew show the same theme of dominance and control is the main key to a relationship. Petruchio uses his dominance and his male status to control kate and tame her. While Kate uses her sexilyness and confidence to play John. Both Petruchio and Kate have one common goal, to “tame” their spouse into what they want.

The movie is different from the play in one big way: The idea of taming. In the taming of the shrew Petruchio is looking for rich wife, when he meets Kate he realizes he has to do some work on her. After settling the deal with her father, he decides to tame her by tactics such as starving her, ignoring her, looking down on her, and by doing so he is changing her way of thinking and making her truly believe that a wife’s job is to serve the man.. In John Tucker must die Kate is the new girl at school and she notices that three girls are being played by the same man, John Tucker. The girls decides to get even with John by taming kate to be the perfect woman to make him fall in love. She uses tactics such as joining cheerleading, joining clubs, and a whole new wardrobe. In the end she tames him to be the perfect man. This difference shows that attitudes about “taming” someone have changed--today their our laws that prevent abusing people, so Kate uses her sexyness. But in Shakespeare's time, abuse was very common.

The taming of the shrew is a story about “true” love. Through the play it expressive the idea that love has to be perfect. The perfect women, the perfect house, the perfect wealth, and the perfect “shrew”. Petruchio express what he wants in marriage, wealth. He doesn’t care who he marries as long as they are rich.

“I come to wive wealthily in Padua; if wealthily then happily in Padua.”
Act 1, Scene 2, Lines 76-77.

Kate matches Petruchio perfect woman, why she is the daughter of a wealthy man who owns a ton of land. Petruchio follows the rule that is set in place, that true love is perfect. So he persuses the rich man's daughter but realizes that in order for it to be a perfect marriage, he has to tame her.

“After my death, the one half of my lands, And, in possession, twenty thousand crowns.”

Act 2, Scene 2, Lines 115

After learning how rich Kate is and will be when her father dies, he becomes very determined to win her.

In the movie, John Tucker is the typical high school jock, he has all the ladies, the looks, and the clothing. All the girls want him and all the guys want to be him. John has 3 girlfriends, one is an over achiever, one is a cheerleader, and eco friendly person. One thing they all have in common is that they are known in the school, Unlike Kate.

“John Tucker, Let's face it, He is the man,
Captain of the basketball team, his family's loaded...
and he looks somewhere between an Abercrombie model...
and a Greek god,- Kate”

Kate was more of a shy and quiet girl. She moves around a lot because her mother goes from relationship to relationship. So Kate never really was able to make friends. Kate considered herself to be invisible, no one ever noticed her. It’s safe to say that Kate and John are the total opposite from each other unlike Petruchio and Kate (TTOTS).

“I was in seventh grade...  
when I realized
I was invisible- Kate”

Petruchio main goal to have in a woman is wealth, but he wants more. He decided to tame the loud and confident kate with tactics such as starving her, leaving her, and embarrassing her. He wants the perfect woman so bad that he changes her so she can fit his ideal woman instead of accepting her for how she is.

“Women are made to bear, and so are you.”

Act 2, Scene 1, Lines 1048

After a while Kate accepts Petruchio and changes herself. The play presents the idea of everything being perfect in order to have the perfect marriage. At the end of Kate’s little sister's wedding, their husbands check to see who’s wife will listen to them. Kate’s sister didn’t answer to her husband and kate called her out on it.

“Fie, fie, unknit that threat'ning unkind brow
And dart not scornful glances from those eyes
To wound thy lord, thy king, thy governor.
It blots thy beauty as frosts do bite the meads,
Confounds thy fame as whirlwinds shake fair buds,
And in no sense is meet or amiable.
A woman moved is like a fountain troubled,
Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty,
And while it is so, none so dry or thirsty
Will deign to sip or touch one drop of it.
Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,
Thy head, thy sovereign; one that cares for thee
And for thy maintenance; commits his body
To painful labor both by sea and land,
To watch the night in storms, the day in cold,
Whilst thou li'st warm at home, secure and safe;
And craves no other tribute at thy hands
But love, fair looks, and true obedience--
Too little payment for so great a debt.
Such duty as the subject owes the prince,
Even such a woman oweth to her husband;
And when she is froward, peevish, sullen, sour,
And not obedient to his honest will,
What is she but a foul contending rebel
And graceless traitor to her loving lord?
I am ashamed that women are so simple
To offer war where they should kneel for peace,
Or seek for rule, supremacy, and sway,
Whey they are bound to serve, love, and obey.
Why are our bodies soft and weak and smooth,
Unapt to toil and trouble in the world,
But that our soft conditions and our hearts
Should well agree with our external parts?
Come, come, you froward and unable worms,
My mind hath been as big as one of yours,
My heart as great, my reason haply more,
To bandy word for word and frown for frown.
But now I see our lances are but straws,
Our strength as weak, our weakness past compare,
That seeming to be most which we indeed least are.
Then vail your stomachs, for it is no boot,
And place your hands below your husband's foot,
In token of which duty, if he please,
My hand is ready, may it do him ease.”

Act V, Scene 2, Lines 2644

Kate is trying to get back at John for treating women like crap, but maybe it’s a little more than that. Kate is making a statement to all men, especially the ones that play her mother. Never treat a women wrong, or she will come a get you. With the help of her new friends, she becomes the perfect women that John looks for in a woman. She goes from being an outcast to one of the most popular girl in school.

“And we can make you into anything, If we combine...
all of us, we can make him fall in love with you-.

I mean really fall in love- and then we'll...
yank it all out from under him,”

After coming to the realization that they can just break his heart, the three friends (AKA John’s ex girlfriend) and combine themselves into her. Making her the “perfect” woman for John to fall in love with.

“Who’s the new cheerleader? She’s hot”- John

Kate went along with the plan. She will be the perfect woman for John Tucker. When he falls in love with her, she will break his heart like he did to the other girls. Some of the tactics used to make her “perfect” was trying out for cheerleading. What is more perfect than the caption of the basketball team dating the cheerleader.

Kate proved her love to Petruchio when she listened to his command and gave a speech on how women are made to please and served their husband. Petruchio uses abuse to tame kate into his perfect woman.

“Why, there's a wench! Come on, and kiss me, Kate.”

Act V, Scene 2, Line 2688

John being the typical high school jock, fell for the new kate. But the plan started not to work when kate blurred the lines between acting in love and being in love. In a nutshell, John found out about Kate's plans and broke up with her. Kate then apologized and John became the perfect man. He was not cheating anymore, lying anymore, and being disrespectful.

“And John Tucker?
We definitely got to him,  
He never lied to a girl again,

“-Kate

What is “real love”? Is it chanling everyone to be the perfect match or accepting their flaws? One thing to consider is the time period of both the movie and play. Love evolved over the years from being the perfect match to beating the odds. The taming of the shrew uses the idea of the perfect match with Petruchio and Kate by pairing the two crazy couples together. While John Tucker must die beats the standards that Shakespeare put by making the basketball player fall in love with the social outcast. So should “taming” be apart of the definition of “love”? Well one thing for sure is that it is a common theme through love stories.

Dear Unidentified man,

I want to thank you for showing me the part of the world that you should not speak,hear, or see about. Your body showed the dark parts of you life from the bruise on you leg to the holes on your arm, your teeth was as rotten as the 4 week apple on the floor next to you. But you eyes told a different story, it was filled with love, joy, and happiness. So I thank for everything that I learned from you, but I am sorry that you had to die for me to realize the cold truth.

From when I was born till I was 7 it was always just me and my mom. My mom was very protective of me so I always was shielded from the world and was held in her protection. My mom had just started dating my step dad for a couple month now. We were visiting his mother's house at Maschern Indiana street in North Philly. I try to say this as kindly as I can but, the house was disgusting. The house only had only one light source which was on the end of the step railing and it projected a yellow light since no one had cleaned the light cover. They had an old fashioned tv were you change the channel on the TV but they had a Spanish show on so I didn’t pay attention to that. My skin felt like their was a swarm of bugs crawling on me. the air was thick and it smelled like food. There was so many bugs there that you can’t count, I needed to get of there so I asked my mom if I can sit on the step. She said yes but only if I go out there with my new cousins and that I can’t leave the step.

So me and my new cousin were sitting on the step looking at the sky. It was about 5:00pm and you can see the sun start to set. I heard my cousins talk but I didn’t understand their lingo so I kept quite. I realize that they didn’t have shoes on and I thought that was weird but I never questioned it. They walked to the corner and told me to follow them, I checked to see if my mom was in the door before I ran towards them. We were playing “spit spit spit you are not it” when suddenly you hear a car suddenly press the gas a couple blocks down. So we all turn our head to the noise and then we raise the car was coming up their block, they yelled duck as if this was a routine for them. So I did, as I was ducking the car back door slides open and a body wrapped in a rug or blanket gets thrown out in front of us while the car was moving. As the body started to roll, the blanket or rug that he was in started to unroll with him. It happened so quickly that I didn’t realize what just happened. I started to smell an odd stench in the air and my head followed the smell. That's when I saw him. He was laying on the sidewalk, his body was as stiff as ice as if he had been dead for hours. The first thing I saw was the band wrapped on his upper arm, then I saw the holes on his arm, then I saw how thin he was and his teeth. While I was examining him from a distance, my cousins were jumping over him as if he was not human. The sun shone on his eyes and that’s when I saw them. They were the lightest blue eyes that I have ever saw. They looked like the sky on a sunny day, his eyes showed a different story. But before I could continue to look my mom had swooped me into her arms and cover my eyes. She took me straight home and didn’t say goodbye to anyone. Like Rat Kiley in “The things they carried” I wasn’t my funny self anymore, I become more dull towards the world because of seeing death. After seeing a dead body for the first time, I never looked at life the same again. Growing up I never really thought of death or anything beyond life, I never realized or acknowledge that death was real.

That night I asked my mom what happened to that man. “Nothing, he was just sick.” my mom said.

“Why didn’t he go to the doctors to get better?” I asked. “I don’t know, but don’t worry about.” she said. Being the child that I was I let it go. But as I got older, I started to realize what really happened to him. According to the investigating, the guy got high with his friends a couple blocks down and he OD. His friends didn;t want their block to get “hot” so they dumped the body a couple blocks down. All of that over drugs. At a young age almost every adult you meet says “Don’t do drugs kids”.  “But why” asked every kid. Some might have gotten a response back but most didn't because they were too young to understand. Some kids rebel and go against what their parents say and I feel like because they don’t know the real world consequence. If it wasn’t for that day, I wouldn't be the person that I am today. By the time I was in 8th grade, majority in my class either had sex, use drugs, drink, and steal. So many people tried to influence me but what had stopped me was the man, because it showed the the real long term consequence and not the happy and fun short term enjoyment.

But the most important lesson of all that the man taught me was that everyone dies. No one is promised to live a full life, no one is promised to live to see their kids get married and have grand kids, and at the end of the day. Rich or poor, you still end up in the same place. You can not cheat death, so yes live life to your fullest but don’t take advantage of you life and not waste it on short term enjoyment. The problem with today is that we care more about money than our lives because we were never shown about death and the ending for the cycle of life because it's ‘safer” to not show that dark part about humanity. It’s better to be reminded that you will die than because you don't take anything for granted than to be reminded that you are alive making you think you are invincible.

So thank you once again, for teaching me about life and the price that comes with it.

Sincerely,

The innocent bystander  

Niah Lombo

Air stream

English 3

When people think of bullying, they often think of scenes like being pushed into the lockers and being called names which everyone points and laughs at you… However, Bullying has extended far beyond school and into the world wide web. Even though these acts of aggression take place outside of school boundaries, school officials should have the authority to discipline students who engage in cyber bullying because... Doing so will help improve the online behavior of students and decrease incidences of cyber bullying-related suicide attempts.

Ryan Patrick Halligan was a 13 year old student in Vermont, when he was bullied by his classmates in school and cyber bullied online for almost a year. A classmate told him that she had a crush on him online, like anyone he was happy and flustered to have someone like him. but what he didn’t know that the whole school saw the messages. He told his parents that he didn't want to go back to school after being humiliated to the point he left the classroom in tears. After being bullied in school and online, he began to research ways to kill himself. Early in the morning, when his family members were still sleeping, Ryan Halligan committed suicide by hanging himself. His body was found later by his older sister. It all had started on the internet and ended with the internet, if someone would have taken action and punished the kids for bullying Ryan then maybe they would have saved him and others.

Sarah Lynn Butler was a seventh grader from Hardy, Arkansas, committed suicide on September 26, 2009. Sarah, who had just been voted Queen for her upcoming Fall Festival, was teased at school, and later on received bullying messages on her MySpace page.  Her mother would often check her Facebook page to make sure nothing was out of the order and once she noticed the hateful comments she confronted Sarah. Sarah brushed it off and then blocked her mother so she can’t see her page. Sarah hated to go to school because her online bullies also went to school with her, she was afraid to go to school because of them. What makes it worse is that they don’t see the face of the people they are bullying, so the comments or inboxes become harsher and harsher.  On the morning of her suicide her mother login on Sarah’s Facebook to see “she was just a stupid little naive girl and nobody would miss her.” When her parents returned home they found that Sarah hanging in her closet. She left a suicide note that said she couldn't handle what others were saying about her.

These two stories are not unique. Over 25 percent of adolescents and teens have been bullied repeatedly through their cell phones or the Internet. As of 2010, 8% of public schools reported that cyber bullying had occurred among students daily or at least once a week at school or away from school. Out of the schools who reported having cyber bullying situations, 4% reported that the school environment was affected by cyber bullying. Just because it doesn't happen in school doesn't mean that it won't be brought back into school.  The phones, laptops and etc. may not be at school but the hatred of the person will always be there until someone stops it.

 At present, no federal law directly addresses bullying. In some cases, bullying overlaps with discriminatory harassment which is enforced by the U.S. Department of Education (ED). But once it is outside of school property (School, Bus, Athletic Game, or on a school computer) there is nothing they can do unless it is physically affecting someone at school. School officials should still be able to discipline someone who is a cyber bully outside of school. Mental and physical health are both equally important, it’s easier to heal physically than mentally.

Everyone goes to school to get an education, and if fear is getting in the way of that than school officials should be able to get involved even if it is not occurring at school. That's like a teacher noticing bruises on a kid and they believe that the child is being abused, they are allowed to report it because a child's life is in danger. That is the same thing as cyber bullying, but the bruises are invisible. If making a school a good and safe environment is the goal, then cyber bullying should be addressed not only by the parents but the school officials also.

Sources:

1. "Section 13A03.1 - Act of Mar. 10, 1949,P.L. 30, No. 14 Cl. 24 - PUBLIC SCHOOL CODE OF 1949." Section 13A03.1 - Act of Mar. 10, 1949,P.L. 30, No. 14 Cl. 24 - PUBLIC SCHOOL CODE OF 1949. U.S. Department of Education, 2015. Web. 6 Oct. 2015.

2. "Pennsylvania Anti-Bullying Laws & Policies." Pennsylvania Anti-Bullying Laws & Policies. Pennsylvania Anti-Bullying Laws & Policies. GOV, 2015. Web. 6 Oct. 2015.

Lungs

*yawn * its time for work…. what class am i teaching today? ohh I think 4th grade….. dam it’s foggy outside? where is my car ? *cough cough* I can't breath.. oh here it is...Hello class please pull out your homework from last night. Junjay why are you late to my class? Are you okay? Can you breath? Hows your lungs? Wheres your inhaler…. okay now breath……...you okay?..  *(to himself) its the air?*  kim shut all the windows right now!! Chin hand me my phone!! hurry run! *calls someone* hello yes I think theres something wrong with the air? yeah its hard to breath right now and junjay the kid with the lung problems can’t breath! yes we shut all the windows… hmm okay….yeah sure thanks…Class calm down… shhh everything is okay…. shhhh okay ready freetime...Just wait one minute junjay help is on the way.. Do you have a question hang?.. Oh this is what happens when there is pollution in the air…. ummm are you guys sure? I mean it’s a pretty big subject to learn in 4th grade.. okay sure give me a minute to set up (30 seconds later) Okay class we are going to learn about air pollution… so Air pollution is a mixture of solid particles and gases in the air. It occurs when the air contains harmful amount of gases, dust, fumes and odors. 70% of the air pollution caused in Chinese cities is due to tailpipes….Air can be polluted both indoors and outdoors.. Tobacco and other kinds of smoking are examples of indoor air pollution. Motor vehicles produce more air pollution than any other single human activity. One full commuter bus can mean 40 less cars going through your neighborhood.  So that’s one reason why walking and riding bikes are good for you and the environment…….. So that’s everything that you will understand ummm so yeah any questions?........... um can you die from it? well yes you can but thats if you consume a lot of it… no you guys didn't consume much, you guys are fine… junjay how you feeling? can you breath? don't worry help is on it’s way…….. *sirenes goes off*

Richie Rich

(on the phone) Yes sir listen to me okay! I want a house built right next to my other house? Because I have all the money in the world, so why wouldn't I spend it? Yeah I live next to a forest…. Ummmm yeah there are a lot of trees *under his breath* “dumb ass” Look listen I don't have time for you to lecture me about saving trees okay? Trees make paper and paper makes money so the more trees chopped down the better…. Okay dude just tell me how much it’s gonna cost? and how long will it take?... Can you start today? hmmmm how about in 3 hours? okay good see you then…. *hangs up phone* god dam tree hugger… okay so what should I do now? ooo I can post on my blog because everyone will want to know what I am doing *laughes* … *types on the computer* “well hello peasants lol, so today in the life of richie rich I will be building another house in the forest behind me. And since none of you have a life you can come and watch the king get his castle 2.0 built.” hmmmm okay and post…….. *YELLS* “Donna”…... make yourself useful and go make me a sandwich… no crust and light mayo………. *YELLS* “And bring me a glass of sparkling water”........ hmmm lets count my money *chuckles*  $500….$1,000.. 2,000….$5,000… *DING* ooooo a notification………….. hm John Walks commented on your post… “Dear Mr.Richie Rich I hope you know what you are doing to the environment,  By cutting down trees you are reducing the number of CO2 that is consumed by trees. Trees consume CO2 to conduct photosynthesis and turn it into O2 which is released. kept a result of the CO2, more heat is contained within the atmosphere because CO2 is a heavier gas and heat has a harder time escaping from it. So by cutting down trees for you castle is contributing to global warming. You can't stop heat with your money now can you?”..... um wow I didn't see it like that?.... wheres my phone I gotta stop this order………. Hello um yes I had called an order in about an hour ago?.. yeah that was me, um yeah I would like to stop that order?... yeah… yup.. a change in heart i guess.. yup now can I get a tree house built? Will that help the environment?.. oh yeah wait that involves trees…. okay that’s it.. so yeah thanks. by…… *YELLS* “Donna is my sandwich done”.

FLOOD:

wow its so gloomy outside?.... this better not mess up my date with johnny….. okay blue or the red dress…. *BANG* what the h…….. AHHHHHHHHH HELP… Where is all this water coming from…. Sh** its coming up the steps…. omg omg omg what should I do? Climb out the window! … the water is coming in fast. it stinks so bad…. god damit why won't this window open!!! HELP SOMEONE HELP…. finally this thing opens.  Holy crap I can’t see the street, its flooded, this whole town is flooded…. the water is still rising. I have to get to higher ground?.... The roof! Okay don’t look down… you got this kelly, don’t look down…….. okay breath you won’t fall….. yes I made it……. omg… look at this town… its completely covered…. *cries* oom-g i’m gonna die, noooooooooo…… HELP ME SOMEONE HELP ME…….. hello? did someone just call me?... HELLO?.. HELLO…….. OMG JOHNNY WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!!! Are you okay? I should have listen to professor Gerry….. What?... yes my professor was telling us how Global warming is partly to blame for  heavy rainfall events and floods. Because warmer air can hold more moisture, heavier precipitation is expected in the years to come. But i thought he was just crazy… I don’t know it was early in the morning when he said this.. what else did he say? well he said As the climate system changes in accordance to more CO2 we released that by polluting our atmosphere we literally pull the carpet under our own feet….. I don't know.. so what do we do…. WATCH OUT FOR THE BRANCH… AHHHHHH.  *slash noise* ewww this water is dirty… johnny where are you? JOHNNY… swim towards me I see you!! I need help I can’t swim….. help me up.. thanks. are you sure I think there is more room on the door that I’m floating on?... okay.. how can we prevent this from happening again? ummm well my professor said that   Important steps include discouraging development in flood-prone areas and protecting the natural systems, such as wetlands, that help to buffer against floods…. yup…… do you hear that? Its a person?... OMG johnny look its help!.. Johnny? No johnny no wake up no JOHNNY (Titanic song plays). NOOOOOOO…. HELP OVER HERE!!!

WILDFIRE

Hello everyone thank you for letting me come to career day, So my name is Robert Vick and I am a firefighter here in Colorado. So one issue that we firefighters face that the world is not really aware of is Wildfires.. Does anyone know what that is?...... A wildfire is an uncontrolled fire occurring in wildland areas, which can  consume houses. Wildfires often begin unnoticed, but they spread quickly igniting brush, trees and homes. And its very hard to put the fire out, once one it started it spreads through the woods very quickly… and its not safe to be around, not safe to breath and causes a of smoke. Everyone thinks that most wildfires are started by humans but really its caused by global warming… yup shocking right?... who knew that already?......hmmm okay so ¼ out of the class knew..And its only going to get worse…  climate change and other pressures are causing more intensified firestorms, sparking more damage and putting wildlife more at risk… so does anyone have any questions so far?.... yes you in the green shirt?....... How else does wildfires affect us?.. Well it  contributes carbon to the atmosphere. As this cycle progresses, climate change and wildfires both increase in frequency and severity…. Anyone else? Yes you in the pink flower hat……………. Im sorry i couldn't hear you, can you repeat that? Oh, how could you help prevent it?.. Okay well you guys can Ride bikes to school, walk, recycle, offset your carbon purchase, and plant trees. Thank you all for being a good audience, Hope you have a great school year.  See you soon, hopefully not because of a fire…...

Clean Air

(walking to school)

As I walk to school in the morning sometimes I look up at the sky and see the dark muted grays that have taken  over the once blue beautiful skies and the humid weather in October. And I wonder why nobody ever taught me about my effect on the environment. California used to be a great place man i mean besides the fact the all the ice cream places are now juice bars, but that's besides the point. Suddenly a big group of people come walking past me. Oh and by the way i'm not very popular so… *eyes rolling and shoulders shrugging*  its a rare occasion that multiple people come to me. Hey give me my paper back i need that for science. I assuming none of these kids had a idea that this paper on climate change could affect my grade in a good way or….a very bad way. HEY HEY i need that paper. C'mon guys. On wait you just didn't do you paper…. You could've just asked I would've help. Look nobody really understands the damage climate change can do to our everyday life. *everybody around takes about paper* Okay so let me break this down for you nice and slow. Climate change is caused by many things. Water vapor most know as greenhouse gasses ,this increases as the Earth's atmosphere gets warmer, and so the the possibility of rain, clouds and participation. Carbon dioxide is let into the atmosphere by natural causes such as cutting down trees and all that natural stuff. *takes a deep breath* Are you guys getting any of this? Okay….I’ll take that And you know when you're too lazy walk to school or wherever you go. Your parents drive…. Yeah well just let them know they’re killing the earth. But actually i just remembered why am i even helping you guys... You tried to shove me in a locker yesterday. GIVE ME MY PAPER, your own your own now..

La Casa Perfecta Para Keyaria

Hello, My name is Niah Lombo and I am a ninth grader at Science Leadership Academy. I am doing a project for my English class about an issue that concerns me, and I have to write three blogs about it, I am back for my third and final blog post.  For my YATW (You And The World) project I choose to raise awareness for the shortage of donors for Hispanic, African american, and mixed people.  If you would like to read more about my issue in my past blog posts please click here for blog post 1 and click here for blog post 2. After learning more about my issue it was time for me to take action and get my hands dirty (literally) and step up to help my cause.

I knew that for my agent of change I wanted to do more than just bring in stuff because people will most likely forget. That was too much of a hassle to do, I wanted to do something that will get a lot of teenagers excited and for them to learn something. Then I had an idea! What better way to draw in a crowd then Food! So on May 15, 2014 I sold food at lunch to raise money and donate it a charity that helps support my cause. My main goal was to draw people in with the food so I could inform them about my cause and collect money for the donation. My lunch periods are longer than usual schools lunch periods are (1 hour and 5 minutes) so that gave me a lot of time to get to talk to everyone about my cause and how I am trying to take action. What shocked me the most is that 95% of the people that had asked what I was selling food for (Hispanic rice, baked chicken, and salad) was not aware of the shortage of donors for Hispanics, African Americans. After I told them what I was doing they wanted to learn more about what I was doing, so I showed them to my blog post 1 and 2.

I felt good to know that I was already making a change and that was getting the people aware of what is happening that you wouldn't see on the news or in the newspaper. I wish I could have done more for my agent of change , but I did raise a lot of money for the foundation I am planing on doing it again.  My hopes were to raise money and inform/aware people of the shortage of donors for African Americans, Hispanics, and mixed people; and I am glad to say that I did exactly that. I had raised $76 and I plan on holding on to that Intel I do my second agent of change and donate everything all together.

There are a few things I wish I could have done better. I wish I would have started my agent of change earlier so I could have done more. I also wish I would have done a little gathering that would inform/aware more people on what my issue is. Now all I need to do is give donate the money and I will have completed my YATW project (not exactly). Even though school is almost over and I will be going into the next grade this issue is important to me and my family and I plan on continuing my effort to aware people. Overall, I am so glad that this project was given to my class and if I got the chance to do it again I would. It was a fantastic experience and I felt like I learned more about me and others doing this project. Thank you for reading and I hope you all learned something even if it was from my blog or my classmates blog.

Hello it’s me again, Niah Lombo and I am back for round two of my YATW issue. In my blog post #1 , I talked about my issue which was the shortage of donors for African American, Hispanics, and mixed people. Since then I have found more stories of people with cancer looking for donors with one and a million chance of finding one. Lewis Dyche was diagnosed with leukaemia  and after a global search he finds his one in a million bone marrow donor. To read more about his story click here.  

Now it’s my turn to do my own original research and I wanted to learn more about Donors, and then I thought who would know more about donors? Doctors! So I schedule an interview with Dr.Carmen Febo. Dr. Carmen Febo is a primary care physician and even though she does not deal directly with Donors, etc. she was a great help with the questions and being able to let me interview her with with the short notice. The interview helped me have a better understanding of the importance of finding a donor, being a donor, and the effects of being a donor.

Interview:

Me: What is your chance of living if you find a match donor?  

Dr. Carmen Febo: If you have deadly disease, like kidney failure, heart failure, or liver failure, your life would depend on finding a donor.  The chances of survival have many determinants that include weather this is a living donor, or a dead donor, how close a match it is, how many other conditions you have, how good a surgical candidate you are, etc.  Many of the conditions are better understood now and we have better medicines to combat infection for example, or rejection.  But, what is true is that without the transplant the patient do not have a chance.

That was one of my questions for Dr. Carmen Febo. This hit me hard as it made me realize that a persons life is in the hands of a stranger, and that stranger has no idea how important they are. Its not their fault if they didn't know but only if they could have gotten tested to see if they could save a life.

Margot was 17-months old when she was diagnosed with two of the rarest cancers. But since her parents are mixed she is having trouble finding a match donor. Click here to read her story.

Robin Roberts (left) is a breast cancer survivor and find her match from her sister.  She was aware that because of her race she would have a hard time finding a match donor. Read more about her story here.

That is it for now, the next time you guys will hear from me is when I do my agent of change. What can I do to make change happened? My plan is to host an event to help raise awareness for my issue and will be hosting fundraisers that will be donated to find the cure for cancer. Also I will be writing a letter to Robin Roberts about my cause and because ABC news is having opportunities for people who wants to make a difference to be featured on the show. I will submit my story and how I want to make a difference, and if anything does happened before my blog post #3 I will let you guys know on here.

BLOG #1

               The Shortage of Donors for African American,Latino and Mixed people with cancer

Hi my name is Niah Lombo and I go to Science Leadership Academy. I am a student in Miss.Dunn’s English class; In this class we were asked to research issues that are important to us and then express how we could bring awareness to others by starting a blog about it... This is the first of three blogs that I will be posting my thoughts & concerns. I choose to blog about the sad statistics of the shortage of bone marrow donors for African American,Latino and Mixed races with cancer.I am trying to bring awareness to this issue so more people will donate and save someones life.

Everyday thousands of people die from cancer because they can’t find a donor match.When you are diagnosed with cancer your family members have a 30% chance of being a match but the rest 70% is relied on strangers. Patients are most likely to find a compatible donor within their own racial and ethnic background.

"The truth is, when people of different backgrounds marry and produced offspring, it creates more types that are harder to match."

I am interested in this topic because when I was 9 years old my older sister was diagnosed with leukemia and later died because they could not find a donor in time.The doctors informed us because she was Latina, her chances were slim to find a match. There are so many other people with the same story; for example there is J’sons and Leni who is still looking for a match.The main issue is that minority children are dying because there are mainly Caucasian donors.

little Leni Hsiao, a 4-month-old girl who has endured incredible challenges since her birth.

This topic is significant because more children of ethnic backgrounds are diagnosed with cancer, and most of them die. In 2010 more than 400,000 African Americans, 300,000 Hispanic, and 290,000 mixed women’s died from cancer. Caucasians had the lowest number for death in 2010.

"So many donor programs has been pushing for years to recruit more racial minorities and mixed race donors. So far, multiracial volunteers make up just 3 percent of the 7 million people on the registry"

Caucasian patients have an almost 90% chance of finding a good match.  “ But minority patients have only about 45% chance” said Carol Gillespie, executive director of the Asian American Donor program in Alameda.

Percentage of ethnic groups on the national Registry:

• African American, 7%

• Asian/Pacific Islander, 7%

• Hispanic, 10%

• Native American, 1%

• Multi-Racial, 4%

• Caucasian, 73%

What I wonder is that how many more people need to die before everyone sees the issue that African Americans, Hispanics and mixed people are fighting for their lives every day hoping to find a match? As I go on with this project I hope to find ways that I could help to build awareness on this topic.

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